Madam Speaker, it is entirely appropriate that I rise in the chamber today regarding the response to my question of June 12 regarding the lack of proper equipment for the men and women who serve in our armed forces. For the benefit of Canadians, I repeat what I said to the minister that day regarding Afghanistan: soldiers are dying in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a dangerous place. I warned the minister that it was his moral duty, his obligation to the soldiers and their families, to ensure that Canadian soldiers were equipped for that hostile environment. More important, on that day I asked for a promise from the Minister of National Defence that no Canadian soldier would die because the government was too cheap to provide the equipment the troops need.
The Minister of National Defence was not in the House that day to make the promise then. However, he chose when he came to my riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke when he was at Base Petawawa in July, to promise before family and friends of departing soldiers, as well as to the national media, to resign his post if any Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan because of a lack of equipment.
I am now going to read into the record a letter which I believe sums up the feelings of a majority of Canadians:
Dear Member of Parliament,
I have just attended a funeral in CFB Petawawa today.
It was the second in two days, the one yesterday being for Sergeant Short and the one this afternoon for Corporal Beerenfenger.
As I watched the public grief of the families of these two fine soldiers, I was struck by the number of times that I have heard this week that they were deployed to Afghanistan accepting the risks and that their deaths could not have been avoided. While the former may be true, the latter is not and it outrages me that the Minister has avoided any responsibility in this matter.
The Minister of Defence claims it was the commanders on the ground who made the decisions about the vehicles that were used and that the force deployed properly equipped.
Several months ago I recall the Minister of Defence stating that he would offer his resignation if the Canadian contribution to ISAF was not properly equipped to fulfill its mission.
It is my opinion that these two soldiers died because they were not given the proper equipment to complete their mission.
They died as a result of a political expedient and as a consequence of decades of neglect of the Canadian Forces by the Liberal government.
The Defence Minister should have been at the funerals so that he could hear the sobs of these soldiers' widows, children and mothers that came from broken hearts.
The defence Minister should experience the dread that Canadian soldiers experience while patrolling terrain that has the potential to be hiding an old anti-tank mine, or a newly placed roadside bomb before uttering placating and condescending statements.
I believe very strongly that these two soldiers could be alive today had the Canadian Battle Group been properly equipped and I hold the Minister of Defence responsible for their deaths.
It chills me that the Defence Minister is even considering an extension of the ISAF mission for Canada.
I fear for the lives of Canadian servicemen and women.
It is time for the Minister of Defence to admit responsibility for the deaths of Sergeant Short and Corporal Beerenfenger and to resign.
That letter was received in my office shortly after the deaths of the two Canadian soldiers.
It is time for the truth before any more Canadians die needlessly.
We know today that not only was he aware of the Iltis jeep being a death trap for patrolling soldiers, but the Minister of National Defence knew also that his plan to eliminate the tank from the Canadian Forces' inventory would also cost more Canadian lives. In fact, his own department's internal--